Joern´s Podcasts

International Fistball RESTART at IFA 2021 Fistball World Championships in Grieskirchen (Austria) from  28 July to 1 August

The Women's World Championship, U-18 World Championship and U-21 European Championship will be held simultaneously, where national teams will fight for the Fistball crowns. 

This episode #35 was recorded on Monday the 26 of July with special guests Manuella Poltroniere Rissi an Bianca Suffert from Team Brazil, about their journey to Grieskirchen. 

In episode #34 which was recorded on 13 of July Jörn and Chris talk about Fistball as Sport for All, the registration for the  Fistball Amateurs World Championship and the INTERACT Consultation Workshop and partners meeting, hosted by IFA and TAFISA in Linz, Austria on 28 – 29 June 2021. The workshop gathered some 24 International Sport Organisations that shared their Sport for All initiatives and experiences with each other. The episode includes an interesting quote from TAFISA Secretary General Wolfgang Baumann, highlighting Fistball as perfect Sport for All. 

In episode #33 which was recorded on 15 of June Jörn and Chris talk about the IFA board meeting from last Saturday including an update of the IFA World Games Selection and Qualification Criteria, the preparation of the events in Grieskirchen including the IFA 2021 Youth Congress invitation and the IFA nomination for a election of the Alliance of Independent recognised Members of Sport (AIMS) Secretary General.

The breaking news of this episode #32, which was recorded on 31 of May is: a new host for the Women´s World Championship was announced but Joern and Chris also talk about the virtual meetings IF Forum and the IWGA GA als well as the Bundesliga in Austria and the re-start in Switzerland. 

A new regional association in Asia, a big press conference in Mannheim and news concerning the IFA Women´s World Champs 2021, these are the topics Joern and Chris talk about in this episode #31, which was recorded on May 17th, 2021. 

The International Fistball Association (IFA) is pleased to announce the foundation of the Asia Fistball Association (AFA). 

Currently IFA has 13 member federations in Asia. Some of them are very active like Japan, that participated in the latest World Championships in Switzerland or the 2019 founded member federation in Hongkong, China or the Fistball Federation Of India, which participated in the U18 World Championships 2017 in Germany. Elected as President was Cheng Tsz-man (Ewing) from Hongkong, China. 

With great regret we have to take note that the Swiss authorities do not (yet) allow the Fistball national teams, especially the teams from South America, to enter Switzerland without quarantine at this point. A mandatory quarantine for teams would not be reasonable. 

Further decisions by the Swiss authorities have been announced for May 26. Therefore, on May 26th, there will also be a final decision by the organizers IFA, SF and OC whether to conduct the World Championships in 2021 or not.

The IFA Board of Directors has approved in its latest meeting an updated version of its Strategic Plan for the period 2019-2023. Joern and Chris talk about IFA´s roadmap for the upcoming two years, that reflects the COVID-19 crises as well as the recently approved IOC Agenda 2020+5. Furthermore, they attended and talk about several other meetings about safeguarding athletes, human rights in sports, the national convetion of the German member association and with sports service providers.  The episode was recorded on 28 of April 2021. 

The 2nd IFA Athletes Forum on the main topic “Women in Fistball” is in the middle of episode #29 recorded right after the forum together with the IFA Athletes´ Commission chairwomen Katharina Lackinger listening to and talking about several statements from athletes during the forum.
 
Furthermore, IFA presented in this forum its first ever Gender Equity Toolkit, that provides information about gender equity, as well as ideas / strategies especially for Fistball event organizers for consideration in order to stage events that are more gender equitable.

Today´s topics in episode #28 are the IFA Policy Forum, news from the IFA 2021 World Championships in Austria and Switzerland as well as from the CSIT World Sport Games and the upcoming IFA Athletes Forum next Saturday 10 of April at 2:00 P.M. CET. The episode was recorded on April 6, celebrate worldwide as the International Day of Sport for Development and Peace. 

IFA Fistball World Tour coordinator Mathias Karafiat explains why the World Tour Season 2021 was cancelled. Furthermore, Joern and Chris talk about the upcoming IFA Policy Forum on 30 March, the cancellation of the EURO 2021 in Italy and the need of a calender co-ordination meeting for Fistball events. The episode was recorded on the 26 of March.

Our special guest for this episode is Kristof Lerch, the new elected President of the Fistball Association of Namibia. On the eve of the first match day of the 2021 Bank Windhoek Fistball League season in Cohen the Fistball Association of Namibia elected 28-year-old from Windhoek as its new President. The episode was recorded on the 19 of March.

“Fistball Inside” is the podcast magazine of the International Fistball Association. IFA President Joern Verleger and Secretary Chris Oberlehner analyze two weeks the latest news from the world of Fistball.